What is Borderline Personality Disorder

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is a mental health disorder characterised by extremely unstable emotions. People with Borderline Personality Disorder can have a severely distorted view of themselves.

They can be convinced that there is something fundamentally wrong with them and feel worthless and incapable of being loved. Relationships can be difficult to form and sustain, because the condition can be accompanied by anger, impulsiveness, risky behaviour and frequent mood swings.

People with BPD are more reactive to their environment than normal, and a stimulus which may seem trivial to most people could trigger a very strong emotional reaction.

Borderline Personality Disorder is more frequent in women than in men, and symptoms usually begin to arise between the ages of 15 to 25.

When to seek professional assistance

If you are thinking about harming yourself you need to seek help. If you suspect that you, or someone you know, is suffering from BPD it important to get treatment as soon as possible. A number of therapies can be used to treat the condition, with Dialectical Behaviour Therapy in particular achieving notable success.